Disney Cuts Future Funding to Boy Scouts Over Anti-Gay Policy

The Walt Disney Company announced this past weekend that it will cut funding to the Boy Scouts of American beginning next year because of the group's policy that bars gays from being adult leaders in the organization.

It’s important to note that Disney itself does not directly give to the Boy Scouts. Rather, the company gives cash to some troops in exchange for volunteer hours completed by Disney employees. (The program is called, I kid you not, VoluntEARS.) In 2010, Disney employees volunteered for 548,000 hours, raising $4.8 million for charities in the process, according to its website—although the site doesn’t specify how much of that cash went to Boy Scout troops.

According to Disney's charitable giving guidelines, groups become ineligible to receive Disney funding if they "discriminate in the provision of services unlawfully or in a manner inconsistent with Disney's policies on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, marital status, mental or physical ability, or sexual orientation."

Although the Boy Scouts have allowed gay youths to join, it still bars gays as Scout leaders. The BSA has responded to the news and expressed its disappointment in Disney's decision. Disney said the policy will not affect employees who volunteer with the BSA.